Location: Charlestown of Aberlour, AB38 9PJ Roads: On main road of village Hours: Visitors welcome by appointment, 9am - 11am and 1pm - 4pm Group bookings, max 25. No reception centre or shop Phone: 01340-871204 Homepage: www.aberlour.co.uk

Aberlour distillery was built in 1826, just 14 years after work on the little town itself began. The distillery has thrived although it has burned down twice, on one occasion the entire town population rising from their beds to roll the barrels of whisky out of danger.

Tha vast stills at Aberlour, now owned by Campbell Distilleries, provide the spirit for Aberlour 10-year-old single malt.

Water was initially taken from a well in the grounds used over a thousand years ago for early Christian baptisms by Dunstan, the Pictish saint, who was eventually to become Archbishop of Canterbury. It is now bypassed and spring-water from Ben Rinnes is used.

The distillery, situated at the end of the wide main street, lies on the Lour Burn just 300 metres from where it joins the Spey. There are few vestiges of the Victorian rebuilding but the tree-shaded gate and lodge house at the entrance are attractive. Until recently a sawmill cooperative made use of one of the distillery buildings. There are two pairs of stills dating from 1973.

Aberlour achieves a finely calculated balance between the sweet roundness of sherrywood and the malty delicacy revealed by ex-Bourbon wood. The finish is cream-smooth with zesty, spicy intensity. The standard issue is 10 years old at 40% vol. and special editions are regularly offered such as vintages from 1964 (a bottle of which autographed by showbiz celebrities fetched £3,000 at auction), 1969 and 1970 as well as the millenium hogsheads scheduled for release in the year 2000 AD. Wood-type can vary, as with the 1970 which is drawn from a small amount of that year’s distillate which was aged exclusively in 30 Bourbon casks. The manager is known to play his bagpipes in the warehouses where the spirit mellows ‘just to settle its nerves, ye ken’. Aberlour figures in Clan Campbell blends.